Address by the Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi
Pandor MP, at the launch of a nanotechnology
spectrometer (TOF-SIMS), Rhodes University, 14 November
2014
The Vice Chancellor of Rhodes University, Prof Sizwe
Mabizela;
Dr Peter Clayton, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and
Development at Rhodes;
Dr Albert van Jaarsveld, the NRF CEO;
Dr Gansen Pillay, the NRF Deputy CEO;
Distinguished Professor Tebello Nyokong, the DST/NRF
Research Chair in Medicinal Chemistry and Nanotechnology,
Dr Makhapa Makhafola, the Mintek General Manager for
Research and Development, distinguished guests, ladies and
gentlemen.
It's extremely gratifying to see how our country continues on an
upward nanotechnology development trajectory, considering
where South Africa started only a few years ago.
The publication of the National Nanotechnology Strategy in
2005 was an important first step. Since then the Department
has been hard at work establishing a series of programmes to
advance the objectives of the strategy. The establishment of the
Nanotechnology Innovation Centres based at Mintek and the
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research are the most
significant steps taken to help advance nanotechnology
innovation. These are complemented by programmes focusing
on expanding the nanoscience and nanotechnology research
base.
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South Africa’s National Nanotechnology Strategy has been
hailed by the science community as one of the best in the
world, given its focus on socio-economic development. It aims
to address our challenges in the areas of water, health and
energy, as well as to give a competitive edge to some of the
country’s strategic industries (mining and minerals, advanced
materials and manufacturing, and chemicals and
bioprocessing).
Our National Nanotechnology Strategy not only advances the
national technology missions that were identified in the 2002
National R&D strategy, but also strengthens the integrated
industrial focus of government.
There is little doubt that nanotechnology has an extraordinarily
important role to play in shaping our future.
We can only be proud of what we have accomplished in such a
short time.
We have produced no less than 170 postgraduate students and
published in excess of eleven hundred articles in peer-reviewed
journals. We have filed more than twenty patents. I am
confident that it is only a matter of time before South Africandeveloped nanotechnology-enhanced products will enter the
market.
We are amongst a few countries to have established a formal
nanoscience teaching programme. This is a Masters
programme in nanosciences, founded in 2012, that had its first
cohort of students graduating in the current calendar year.
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Championed by a consortium of four universities - the
University of the Western Cape, the University of
Johannesburg, the University of the Free State and the Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University - the programme is touted as
the model for future institutional collaboration in formal teaching
programmes.
All of this has been made possible by a suite of programmes
the Department initiated for nanotechnology development - the
National Nanotechnology Equipment Programme, the
Nanotechnology Flagship Programme, and the nanosciences
and nanotechnologies research chairs. They have catapulted
nanotechnology research in the country to a point where we
have become global players of note.
The National Nanotechnology Equipment Programme, in
particular, has led to the establishment of world-class
nanotechnology research facilities in the country. It has given
birth to the Centre for High Resolution Transmission Electron
Microscopy (HRTEM), which is established at the Nelson
Mandela Metropolitan University. This Centre is among the best
in the world. The nanotechnology equipment programme has
also enabled the creation of world-class nanotechnology
research centres in our various universities, namely Rhodes
University.
The Time-of-Flight Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometer (TOFSIMS) is one of the powerful equipment requirements critical for
nanotechnology research. It is capable of producing a mass
spectral map of a surface area, has extremely high surface
sensitivity that is essential for the detection of contaminants,
and it provides elemental composition as a function of depth.
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The TOF-SIMS also provides the sole means to providing
information on chemical composition and morphology at the
same time. It is based on the fact that ions with the same
energy, but different masses, travel with different velocities.
Without access to equipment such as the TOF-SIMS, it is
difficult to quantify nanostructured materials. At the moment
researchers rely on their overseas collaborators for such
studies. The availability of the TOF-SIMS in the country will
enhance the quality of research and students training. The
equipment will assist in advancing requirements to address the
national skills shortage in many key areas of research (such as
physics, chemistry, biotechnology and the emerging area of
nanotechnology).
It is no surprise that institutions in the Eastern Cape play a key
role in nanotechnology development. You find their presence in
almost all of the Department’s major nanotechnology initiatives.
The province boasts two of the six research chairs in
nanotechnology. It plays host to the premium Centre of High
Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy I referred to
earlier. It hosts one of the nodes of the Mintek Nanotechnology
Innovation Centre, and is part of the consortium that
established the Masters programme in nanosciences, which I
also mentioned.
I want to challenge institutions in this province to leverage their
world-class infrastructure and world-acclaimed researchers to
bring essential developments to this Province and the rest of
the country.
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The Department is considering mechanisms for the creation of
a suitable environment for nanotechnology innovation through a
roadmap that will help pave way to the conversion of laboratory
outputs to products and services that South Africa, and the
Eastern Cape, desperately needs.
The Rhodes University node of the Mintek NIC is headed by
Professor Tebello Nyokong. Prof Nyokong’s publication record,
which is over 500 papers, and her very impressive H-index are
a clear demonstration of why she is a recipient of so many
awards, which include the prestigious Order of Mapungubwe.
Your contribution to human capital development endeavours,
Prof. Nyokong, having trained more than 70 postgraduate
students, is also outstanding.
I would like to thank Rhodes University for continuing to provide
the environment for researchers such as Prof Nyokong to excel.
The university’s significant financial contribution to the
acquisition of the TOF-SIMS is an example of the kind of
support that will produce the excellence we see in this
institution
May I also appeal to the university to ensure that the piece of
equipment being unveiled today becomes an asset that
supports research not only in this institution. Make sure that it is
accessible to researchers from all across South Africa and
helps them advance their research work. I also call upon
researchers in the country to use these facilities.
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It is, therefore, my pleasure, honourable Vice Chancellor and
esteemed guests, to launch the TOF-SIMS, acquired through
the support of the Department and the NRF, with co-funding
from the University. May it provide the necessary environment
to advance research in general and nanotechnology in
particular.
I thank you.
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